ROB OKUN – The 25th anniversary of the Columbine High School mass shootings is on April 20th. Imagine what it would mean if men organized a Million Men’s March Against Gun Violence!
Category: January 2024
Is North Korea Preparing for War?
MEL GURTOV – Two of America’s most prominent North Korea experts, Robert Carlin and Siegfried Hecker, begin their latest analysis lwith this sentence: “The situation on the Korean Peninsula is more dangerous than it has been at any time since early June 1950.” But US policy on North Korea over the last few decades has changed little.” At the least, the US needs to test Kim’s interest in engagement. Now.
Reviving the Concept of Trusteeship as a Stepping-Stone to Peace in the Middle East
SOVAIDA MAANI EWING – Like it or not, our world has become so interconnected and interdependent that events that have hitherto been regarded as regional in nature now threaten our well-being everywhere. The international community must step up and shoulder a responsibility it has, for too long, abdicated: to maintain and restore peace in the world.
Overcoming the Obstacles to UN Maintenance of International Peace and Security
LAWRENCE WITTNER – Clearly, as the history of the United Nations demonstrates, if the world organization is to maintain international peace and security, it must be freed from its current constraints.
Why conspiracy theories are corrosive to social movements — and what to do about it
SHANE BURLEY – Opposition to the current state of the world is not synonymous with fighting for a liberatory future. And the inability to parse out this reality has revealed instability across a radical left that often clamors after any ally in the struggle against systemic injustice. Without safeguards and clarity on the mission, nearly any voice against the status quo can be mistaken for a friend — including those who want to replace it with something even more deadly or whose analysis relies on conspiracy. The left needs to return to political arguments, reading groups, liberation schools, teach-ins and serious debate hashed out in late night meetings. This is what will move the justifiable instinct that something is wrong to an accurate diagnosis that begs workable action. Without a clear picture of how our world has failed, any demagogue can capture the energy of the disaffected by offering a solution that creates even more profound problems. Our mission is not to simply destroy the old world. It’s to build a new and more just one in its place.
Senior Nonviolent Resister Celebrates Nuclear Ban Treaty the Hard Way
JOHN LAFORGE – A super-majority of UN members finally decided that the nuclear weapons powers must have lied when they promised, in 1970, in Article VI of the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) “to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date”, etc., etc. After 57 years, “at an early date” has become the laugh line of international law. The phrase was vague enough for nuclear powers to ignore it indefinitely, while asserting their lawful adherence.
War in Gaza and Yemen Incompatible with King’s Message
WIM LAVEN – Martin Luther King never missed an opportunity to speak up for the poor or the voiceless. He was assassinated while speaking up for Sanitation Workers in Memphis. The protesters wore sandwich boards that read “I Am A Man.” Should children in Gaza and Yemen carry signs reading, “I am a child”?
Climate Change and Energy Transition: The 2023 Scorecard
RICHARD HEINBERG and J. DAVID HUGHES – The numbers are in, and it doesn’t look good.
How To Celebrate MLK Beyond His Holiday Commemoration
TOM H. HASTINGS – If we would honestly study MLK, his writings, his speeches, and learn from his actual words and actions, we would start to really grasp how we can heal our racial divide, stop our culture wars, and be the best version of America that we can be.
Magical Thinking About Biden 2024 Paves the Way for Another Trump Presidency
JEFF COHEN and NORMAN SOLOMON – Defenders of sticking with Biden glibly dismiss negative poll numbers while noting that polls in January can’t tell us where persuadable voters will end up in November. But there’s a serious problem beyond just polls. It’s the disaffection of activists – pivotal because thousands of talented, hard-working activists are needed to help persuade voters on the fence, and to get-out-the-vote of traditional Democrats who are only “occasional voters.”
Satyagraha: A Word You Should Know in 2024
ANDREW MOSS – Activists striving for equality and justice, including climate justice, may not necessarily use the word satyagraha, but they are nevertheless engaged in what Gandhi called “experiments with truth,” exploring and advancing each day understandings of the deep interrelatedness of factual and ethical truths.
We Can End Mass Atrocities in Gaza and Beyond
SHIMRI ZAMERET – Ordinary people can fix the broken postwar international system and deliver global justice to Palestinians and oppressed people worldwide.
Acting like we own it: Full participation in democracy
TOM H. HASTINGS – Democracy is way deeper than one vote every few years. It will live or die, depending on our commitment to it. We are powerful, every one of us.
US Foreign Policy Is a Scam Built on Corruption
JEFFREY D. SACHS – The $1.5 trillion in military outlays each year is the scam that keeps on giving—to the military-industrial complex and the Washington insiders—even as it impoverishes and endangers America and the world.
The Winter Without Snow – A Wake-Up Call
RIVERA SUN – Let The Winter Without Snow be a wake-up call for all of us. There isn’t a moment to waste. There are countless actions that we can take. And we must take them. Now, not next year.
How The Hell Did We Get Here?
CAITLIN JOHNSTONE – We could have been so much more.